Illegal Fishing in the South China Sea: Why a US-Indonesia Partnership on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Complicates Matters for China

Abstract

The United States should reinforce its partnership with Indonesia on the issue of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in order to challenge the legitimacy of excessive Chinese claims in the South China Sea (SCS). Indonesia's aggressive stance against IUU fishing could have larger implications in the Indo-Pacific region for the United States. Since excessive claims are a trademark of Beijing's approach to statecraft, reinforcing the United States-Indonesia partnership on illegal fishing could be a way to fight back against China without risking military escalation. In essence, such a partnership would focus on challenging Chinese legitimacy. Simply put, Chinas approach to statecraft only works if its actions are seemingly legitimate, or at least legitimate enough, under international law. The central idea of this paper is to propose a way to challenge Chinese legitimacy by focusing attention on the illegitimacy of its actions. With regard to IUU fishing, since international law does not recognize Chinas nine-dash line, fishing without permission by Chinese vessels in its neighbors EEZs is by definition illegal. This paper makes three main points why a reinforced United States-Indonesia partnership would be an effective way to counter Chinese claims. First, Indonesia is well-postured to be a regional leader against illegal fishing, given its embrace of its maritime identity. Second, Indonesia's aggressive stance against IUU fishing makes it an ideal partner for the United States to counter Chinese claims in the SCS. Third, the United States has a window of opportunity to use IUU fishing as a strategic narrative against China, while Indonesia is on the United Nations Security Council from 2019 to 2020.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 10, 2019
Accession Number
AD1077971

Entities

People

  • Louis M. Mccray

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • California
  • Crime
  • Indonesia
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • Islands
  • Law
  • Maritime Security
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Security
  • South China Sea
  • United Nations
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Asian Economic Studies
  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union